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From where Gordie Kosch is standing, Gaylord is about as central as it gets in Michigan.

Its location is why he and his brother Gary opened the Otsego Grand Event Center in the city last fall, and just over a month ago, Main Street Market, an upscale bistro, coffee bar and gourmet market downtown.

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Founders Gordie (left) and Gary Kosch: The brothers began acquiring property 10-20 years ago, beginning in Rochester and then heading north.

"For people who have family or business throughout the state, Gaylord is ... easy to get to, and it's growing," said Gordie Kosch, president and CEO of Rochester-based Kosch Hospitality LLC, which is doing business as Kosch Dining Solutions.

The northern Michigan city is on I-75, the largest artery in the state, and near a significant east-west artery in M-32. It's about three hours from Rochester, and an hour from the Mackinac Bridge, making it a shopping destination for many Yoopers, he said.

"I think that's why a lot of big boxes have opened there on the west side of I-75," he said.

The new market and banquet facility in Gaylord, combined with contracts to manage food and beverage at the new Jimmy John's Field in Utica, Maple Lane Golf Club in Sterling Heights and three municipal golf courses in Kentucky are expected to put Kosch Dining Solutions on track for $18 million in revenue this year. That's up 29 percent from $14 million last year. The company's 2014 revenue was $12 million.

Kosch Dining began as a tavern and restaurant operator in Sterling Heights in the early 1980s. Today, it manages onsite dining operations for several metro Detroit companies and parks, ranging from the Huron-Clinton Metroparks to Troy Community Center, Walsh College, Monroe County Community College, Blossom Heath in St. Clair Shores and Paint Creek Country Club in Lake Orion through a joint operating agreement with Davey Golf, which is the Lake Orion-based division of the Davey Tree Co. in Kent, Ohio.

Though based in Rochester, Kosch isn't new to Gaylord or northern Michigan. Its owners began acquiring property 10-20 years ago, beginning in Rochester and then heading north to Traverse City, Elk Rapids, Petoskey and Gaylord. In establishing the Kosch Properties Division, the idea was to hold the properties as a hard asset and to lease them to produce revenue.

The brothers operated the well-known Gordie Howe's Tavern & Eatery in Traverse City from 1994-2005 and today rent the restaurant to the operators of Agave Mexican Grill, Gordie Kosch said.

They also own and operate other eateries familiar to many tourists and northern residents, including the Alpine Tavern & Eatery in Gaylord, with its outdoor beer garden during the warm weather; The Boathouse, on Traverse City's Mission Peninsula; the building that houses Trout Town Tavern & Eatery in Kalkaska; and the 140-year-old Cook Electric building in Petoskey. The Cook building is now a multi-tenant office and retail building that houses Great Lakes Pie Co. and other businesses.

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Kosch Dining Solutions

Main Street Market is an upscale bistro, coffee bar and gourmet market in downtown Gaylord.

Their newest northern Michigan property, Main Street Market, opened May 23 downtown in Gaylord in a 136-year-old building they've held and leased to a number of tenants for the past 12 years.

Installing new electricity and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, Kosch Dining Solutions invested $400,000 to convert the historic building, a hardware store for roughly 100 years, into a bistro, bar and gourmet market. Its venerable tin ceiling and interior brick walls remain intact.

"The uniqueness of the concept is a progressive, upscale, new consumer experience," Kosch said.

With seating for up to 60, the market offers customers a glass of wine, a selection of small plates or a coffee and baked good before or after perusing its limited gourmet selection of high-end cheeses, cured meats, pasta, chutney and other made-in-Michigan products.

The market is the second business Kosch has opened in Gaylord this year. Last fall, it purchased the 4-acre parcel next to the Big Buck Brewery on I-75 in Gaylord for $350,000 and spent an equal amount to expand and renovate the former Wisconsin Street Hall building and surrounding area. Now operating as the Otsego Grand Event Center, the venue has seating for up to 220 people, an onsite ceremony space with a waterfall, and arbor and landscaping to create a private setting for wedding parties in the back garden area.

"We already have $600,000 of business for that venue on the books for this year," Kosch said. "That's better than expected."

Two-thirds of the booked business is for weddings and the remainder is for corporate, nonprofit and private events such as birthday parties and baby showers.

"A banquet business is different from a restaurant (where) ... pretty much how you do the first few months is typical of the volume you're going to realize," Kosch said.

A banquet center takes time to build a customer and referral base, Kosch said. Despite competition from established venues including TreeTops Resort and Otsego Club & Resort, he projects Otsego Grand will do about $750,000 in revenue this year and $850,000 to $900,000 next year.

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Kosch Dining Solutions

Main Street Market in Gaylord offers customers a glass of wine or coffee and a selection of baked goods before or after they peruse its selection of gourmet cheese, meat and other made-in-Michigan products.

Kosch Dining Solutions is also seeing growth on the local and out-of-state fronts, its co-owner said.

The company has a three-year contract to manage the 15 concession stands, AAA Clubhouse, 30 suites and all catered, on-premise picnics for the new Jimmy John's Field, which opened May 30 in Utica. The stadium is expected to do about $2.5 million in food and beverage revenue each year, Kosch said.

Gordie Kosch said he and his wife, Julie, have known Andy Appleby, who built the stadium for his independent United Shore Professional Baseball League, and his wife, Kris, for 20 years through Young Presidents' Organization. That relationship, coupled with a competitive bid, won Kosch Dining Solutions the contract, he said.

"I think it had a lot to do with customized solutions — a national (food and beverage company) will not customize solutions; they're going to go with their format."

Appleby wanted a unique, customer-driven service, and that's what Kosch Dining is delivering, Kosch said. He and his wife drove to Kansas City, Kan., late this spring to buy a commercial smoker that had been used in professional competitions so they could smoke pork butt, beef brisket and other meats right on site at the new stadium.

"I don't know of any national (food and beverage company) doing on-site smoking" at a stadium, Kosch said. (Most use commissaries and then transport.)

Kosch, which now employs 600-650 people, also landed a two-year contract in February to manage food and beverage for Maple Lane Golf Club in Sterling Heights for owner Moceri Cos. And last week, it took over the food and beverage operations for the 54-hole Kenton County Golf Course and its banquet center in Kentucky through a second joint operating agreement with Davey Golf, which is managing the golf operations for the courses. The contract, which runs through December 2019, is expected to do $550,000 in gross food and beverage revenue on an annual basis, Kosch said.

Kosch Dining and Davey Golf — which is projecting $10 million in sales this year, up from $7.7 million last year — are now talking with a Florida course about taking over operations as well, he said, noting the golf industry is trending significantly to outsourcing.

The majority of golf courses have food and beverage operations. "If you can't have that under your management direction, you just can't compete for management contracts," said Davey's national division manager, Mark Jackson.

"We are not a food and beverage company; Kosch is. They get that end of the business, and we get all the facets of golf," he said. "So we've teamed up with them so we have the best practices of both worlds."